By Julie Waters
OVER £14,000 that should have been allocated to two hard pressed social supermarkets has remained in council coffers for six months because the emails of an officer on sick leave went unchecked.
With foodbanks in the borough reporting record need, Ards and North Down Council is now urgently allocating the money which must be spent before the end of the financial year in March.
One of the supermarkets has welcomed the unexpected windfall however, a former Mayor has said he hopes lessons can be learned by the council.
The issue began at the end of the 2024-25 financial year when the council had an underspend of £14,362 in its Social Supermarket funding. Permission was needed from the Department for Communities to carry over the underspend into the current financial year and so an email was sent asking for the go-ahead.
Once permission was received the money was to be allocated to the social supermarket operated by Kilcooley Women’s Centre (£7,899) and Bangor Foodhub and Community Support (£6,463).
The Kilcooley supermarket covers Bangor, Holywood and Donaghdee whilst the Bangor Foodhub aims to meet the needs of people in Newtownards, Comber, Ballygowan, Killinchy and the Ards peninsula.
The aim of the social supermarkets is to reduce food poverty across the borough, by providing affordable food, hope, dignity and connection as well as boosting healthier living across the community.
Social supermarkets also play a key role in helping people move on from relying on foodbanks and into food security. However, after the Department approved the carryover of the underspend, a confirmation email was sent to a council officer who was on long term sick leave.
This email was not ‘picked up’ and caused a ‘significant delay’ in allocating the funding.
At a meeting of the full council last week former mayor Alistair Cathcart praised the ‘incredible’ work of the social supermarkets and welcomed the additional funding. However he asked how long was the delay and would the money have to be spent by the end of the financial year.
Voicing his concerns at the delay, the Bangor Central councillor said: “I hope that lessons can be learned to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
Adele Faulkner, director of Active and Healthy Communities, stated there had been a ‘significant delay of six months’ after the email had gone to a council officer who was on sick leave and ‘hadn’t been picked up’. She advised the money would need to be spent by the end of the March.
Alison Blayney, the CEO of Kilcooley Women’s Centre, said of the additional funding: “We would welcome the additional funding especially at this time of year, it will be really helpful at the most difficult times.
“It is unfortunate that due to a system failure in the council it wasn’t picked up sooner. To get the money at the end of the financial year is not the best way to spend money,” Ms Blayney said.
